Needle to the Heart
by Kimiaara
Summary: Sakura is tired of being last on Sasuke's list. The best way to get back at someone is to aim directly at the heart, right? That means, Itachi.


Needle to the Heart

By Kimiaara

A/N: Hi! Third story, the requested one called "Needle to the Heart". I'm new to the ItaSaku community, but I write for other pairings all the time. I don't really discriminate against any characters, so I write EVERY pairing you could possibly think of, maybe even a little yaoi now and then. As for yuri…well, I'm not sure. SO without further ado, I present Needle to the Heart!

"When they ignore you, make a scene…" Luther Wright

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She was young. She was the eye candy of Konoha, and unlike most girls in her age group, she was smart. It was not really common for girls of her décor to be smart, AND pretty, but she didn't let it get to her head. Like most smart girls, Sakura knew what she wanted, and that was none other than the heartthrob, and prodigy of the village, aside from Neji. And his name was Sasuke.

Yes, that was every girls dream. His silky navy hair in that interesting style, his coal colored eyes, and his dominating personality. He was everything Sakura wanted, or so she thought…

Sakura's story was an interesting one. Not many girls could say that they'd fallen in love with an S-ranked criminal, ran away and lived happily ever after when they were trying to be a conniving bitch and get back at the one boy that they THOUGHT they loved. But she could, because she did. And she didn't regret it not one bit…

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It was a typical day in Konoha. The same old, sunny, happy go lucky village it always was with a bustling main street and cheery faces. Sakura walked along in the crowd with her mind wandering far from the hustle and bustle however. She had just heard the most devastating news from someone, and that news was that Sasuke Uchiha was back! He was back and he was being interrogated by Konoha's one and only Tsunade, and chances were they weren't going well…not only Tsunade however, but Ibiki and Anko, and even Ino! She wondered how that would fair…Ino had started out wanting to become a medic nin like Sakura, but eventually branched off into the criminal justice division, working alongside Konoha's elite interrogators. It suited her. She was good at getting things out of people. Anko's side job was interrogation, and to have a variety of people who would determine if Sasuke was telling the truths or not, she was called into duty. Ibiki had always been the king at interrogation, so it was a no brainer that he was going to be involved.

As most thought she would be, Sakura was indeed lost in thought about the whole situation. She was so happy he'd come back…but the question was, was he going to get out scotch-free? Not only that, but was it of his own will to return? Probably not, and Sakura couldn't bare to think of the consequences of this. How foolish to run away! He didn't even get Itachi!

Yes, that's right. Sasuke Uchiha did NOT kill Itachi. As a matter of fact, he downright lost. His ego had been busted up, rumor had it that he'd escape again to go after his brother. Sakura could actually see that happening. Because Tsunade knew exactly how Sakura felt about Sasuke, she was not allowing her to visit WHATSOEVER. It made her so angry! But who could she blame except for her love-sick self?

"Oi! Sakura!" called the annoyingly familiar voice of Naruto Uzumaki as he ran up with the brightest smile on his whiskered face. "I know you heard! Sasuke is back!" he said.

For a second, Sakura didn't know if she'd actually heard him or not. "Huh? Oh, sorry Naruto. I was just thinking…" she said.

"About?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke." she said.

"Well, didn't you just hear me?" he said.

"Yes, I heard you, I just wasn't actually listening to you." she said bluntly.

Naruto scratched his head. "Uh, well, I suppose you already know then." he said.

"I do." she said back to him. "He's back and is being interrogated." she said.

"Yeah, and he'll be able to come out in about two days. I don't know why it's two days, but I wonder what they're doing…?" he said thoughtfully. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to, you know, go eat some ramen with me, and get your mind off of things…maybe we could even call it a da-"

"For the last time, no Naruto. You know that Sasuke's back. We're really good friends, you and me, and I don't want it to escalate to anything more." she said point blank.

Naruto grinned slyly. "So, if that's the case, that means I'd actually have a chance??" he asked.

Sakura whacked him. "NO! You sure as hell don't, so don't go getting all cocky!" she said. "I've got things to do, so I'll see you later?" she asked him.

"If the swelling goes down before then." he said as he walked off.

She really didn't enjoy hitting Naruto, it was just reflex, like something she HAD to do. It just happened all the time, and no matter how close the two got, that habit of hers to hit him would still be there. It wasn't like she was trying to hurt him; it was more of a sisterly thing than anything else.

Sakura walked on, the opposite way of Naruto, and continued to where she was heading anyway, and that was the training field. She had been training medically for weeks on end, with hardly any physical training to speak of in that time, so she desperately needed to.

When she got there, of course, there was no one there really, so the whole entire training ground could be called hers.

She pulled off the usual red skirt-like attire, and the small jacket she wore over her other thin shirt and fish net to be clad in spandex type shorts and the underlying shirt. She planned on training hard, no reason to be weighed down.

She wanted to be in top shape, to show Sasuke that she was more than just annoying as he put it, to show him she was just as powerful as she could be, and she did take her training seriously. She'd done it all these years, she was now 16. She was a sixteen year old girl that had her head on her shoulders, her fitness in check, and had drawn the line between obsessive flirt, and seriously interested girl. She wanted him, not in a crushy, fangirlly way. She knew her feelings were serious when she was the only one who still thought about, wished, and loved him, while no one else even cared. Ino moved on, so did all the other girls that would eat him alive. Only her…so she was serious, and she wanted to prove it. She wasn't just Sakura Haruno, the girl that idolized and worshipped Sasuke Uchiha, she was Sakura, the girl that was willing to prove herself for the one she truly loved.

She was so lost in thought she didn't even realize the series of scratches, cuts, and bruises she'd caused herself and sighed deeply. Sometimes, her mind wandered too far.

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Later on, when the sun had just set, Sakura had finished her training and was sweating like a work horse. She was so tired, and a nice warm bath sounded great. She moved her now damp hair behind her ear, and gathered her things, not bothering to put on the discarded clothes again. As she walked, she noticed the streets were eerily quiet. Although it was normally like this when she went home after training or work, she couldn't help but feel slightly off. The atmosphere made her hair stand on end, and made her feel slightly paranoid. She decided to quicken her pace. When she felt this way, something was almost always not right.

Surprisingly, she got home safely, but she knew someone was out there…they may not have been targeting her, but someone was out there, someone who shouldn't be. She walked into her room, dumped all the clothes on a nearby chair, and took a nosedive on her warm, welcoming bed, the ceiling fan blowing comfortably on her body. She rolled her head over absently to find the picture she'd kept from years ago sitting on her nightstand. She'd moved twice, and it was still with her, through all the turbulence in her life.

On it was team seven, the most notorious team there was. The team that shadowed the three sannin, the team that had the toughest sensei, the team that had the missing nin, the child with the nine-tailed fox, and the protégé who was surpassing the most impressive medic and current hokage. It was a team of many accomplishments and failures, and Sakura's mind warped through the memories at that one glace at the picture. On the frame, a crack danced all the way to the other end from the time she grew angry at Sasuke and knocked the portrait off it's hoist, for abandoning her. The once new wooden frame was now slightly dull from age, it seemed to get dusty often…all symbols of a team that was collapsing. Sakura was the only one that really tried to hang on…

After taking her warm bath and settling in for the night, Sakura laid on her bed, and turned off her lamp. The moon still illuminated the picture of the three…maybe there was hope, she thought…but her frail line of hope faded once she realized the moon symbolized night, which symbolized dark, which was not good…The moon symbolized the time in the night that she tried so hard to get Sasuke to stay with her, the moon symbolized the many nights they'd spent looking for Sasuke, and another day without him ending…the moon was overall deceiving at this point. She turned herself away from it, and went into an uneasy sleep, wondering how Sasuke was fairing with everyone, hoping she was going to see his face, like things had always been again.

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"For the last time, why did you act so recklessly? Where is Kabuto Yakushi?" asked a harsh, yet feminine voice, that seemed to be growing very impatient.

"…" no answer…

Anko sighed. "It's pointless! He's not going to say anything!" Anko said to Ibiki, who was growing equally as frustrated with the incorporative Uchiha.

Ino looked on in pity at her past crush. It pained her to see him like this, but she could handle it now. She had Sai, and that was all she needed really. But with a past brings feelings, she thought.

"Listen kid, you may think you are doing some good by protecting him, but you're really not. I'm willing to stay here all night with you if I have to." he said glaring.

"…Protecting who?" he finally spoke.

Anko rose an eyebrow and looked to Tsunade for an answer. When she showed no signs of replying to his answer, Anko spoke up herself. "Well, if you're not protecting him, then why are you not telling us anything? We need this information." she said.

"That's just the point. You think I'm going to willingly tell you anything? What you know is what I know. So how much help can I really be?" he asked.

"He has a point. His main target wasn't Kabuto at all. It was Itachi." Tsunade said.

"But-"

"I'm beginning to see his point," Tsunade interrupted Anko, "but he could be a little more respectful." she said glaring herself.

"We'll continue this tomorrow. Sasuke, Ibiki will escort you to your room for the night." said Tsunade as she began to leave.

Ibiki gestured for the boy to follow him, and Sasuke stood up, hands bound, chakra staying dormant. "Alright, listen, tomorrow is the last day you'll have to explain yourself, so you'd better be thinking up some lines." said Ibiki. Ino would be the one doing most of the interrogating tomorrow since she needed the experience, and also, since he was a familiar face, so she could deal with criminals and backstabbers without feeling the pressure. She'd become a cold, hard interrogator like himself. It slightly pleased him that he also had someone to follow in his footsteps like some of the other more important people of the village.

"It doesn't matter. I failed at what I intended to do. Why live on and pretend to be all happy when the man I desperately wanted to kill is still walking alive and breathing out there somewhere while I suffer?" he asked truthfully.

Ibiki said nothing at this. He really didn't understand, and it was sad. Someone so young with such a dark goal. It was usually normal, that's what most would say, but to him, it was simply uncalled for. He pitied Sasuke, but didn't admit to it as he opened up the door to Sasuke's cell.

Sasuke didn't protest as he entered, eyeing Ibiki briefly as he ambled back down the hallway before taking a seat on the uncomfortable bench that was suppose to be considered a bed. "Fools…" Sasuke said to himself.

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The next morning, Sakura awoke to something…odd. What was that annoying pecking sound!? It was driving her insane, and she opened her eyes with crazed rage as she sat up unwillingly to see a bird pecking annoyingly on the window sill. It had a message attached to it's foot, so Sakura knew it was important. She walked over and opened the window, hurriedly without paying much attention to what she was doing, and in the process, knocked over the picture frame, shattering the glass. Sakura gasped and bent down to retrieve the picture as she dusted the glass off of it and eyed it dazed-like. She was snapped out of her thoughts however, when the bird cooed loudly as a sign of impatience. Sakura sighed and took the scroll off of the bird and unrolled it, reading it.

_Sakura-san. Meet Tsunade-sama in her office pronto. _

It read simply. Sakura wondered what this would be about, but being Sakura, she knew she was not told 'Pronto' to lollygag. The small amount of words hung heavy with meaning.

She immediately got up, got dressed and headed out to the hokage building. She wondered what Tsunade needed to see her so badly for, because it was rare she got called to the hokage building in this manner.

Heading up the steps of the building, she stopped at the door, and took a deep breath. She knocked and soon after heard Tsunade's voice telling her to enter. She opened the door slowly and stepped in to find Tsunade's hands crossed and up to her face as she stared straight ahead at Sakura.

She didn't know what was going on, but she was a bit less than eager to find out…

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So he'd come home?

It was unusually odd to Itachi why he'd actually allow himself to be caught and turned in. Maybe it was because he was ashamed…maybe it was because he was tired of chasing him, or maybe he was hoping for such a severe punishment that he could completely forget that Itachi existed…anything to escape his failure.

Itachi couldn't lie, he was more than disappointed with Sasuke, he was disgusted. He'd ruined the perfectly set in stone plan that he'd come up with, and with this knowledge, Itachi could feel his eye twitch involuntarily. The previous night, he'd been walking through Konoha, unnoticed he thought, until he spotted a gorgeous girl, walking through the village. She seemed timid after a bit…then he recognized her. She was that pink haired brat that he'd fought along with the Kyuubi kid. She was indeed a ninja, and had more than likely suspected him of being there. He had just come to see what his brother was actually up to, but ended up aborting his own little mission to keep from being found out by the girl.

And so today, Itachi sat at a small dango shop outside of konoha in a minor village thinking things over. His guilt would forever rest on his shoulders…what would he do? Could he find something to distract him from his guilt, much like Sasuke was trying to do for his hate and self-loathing? He hoped…but what?

His eye sight was deteriorating fast, his current allegiance faltering, clan gone, hateful and failure of a brother…was there nothing left for him?

He grew tired of thinking soon, set some money on the table he occupied with his barely touched dango, and exited the shop with a little more than frustration on his shoulders. He needed to go. Kisame was probably more than impatient by now (he'd told him to give him some time alone…)

Maybe he could rouse Sasuke's anger once more…but how?

He'd think of something. There would definitely be some answers in Konoha, if nowhere else…

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A/N: thanks for reading, please review and I promise to put up the next chapter friends!! Ciao, Sayonara, Hasta Luego, ect…


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